"Planets in My Head, Physics" (2010) by Yinka Shonibare
According to Grant, "good teachers introduce new thoughts, but great teachers introduce new ways of thinking. Collecting a teacher's knowledge may help us solve the challenges of the day, but understanding how a teacher thinks can help us navigate the challenges of a lifetime" (203).
Describe a teacher--in school or outside of school--who taught you a new way of thinking. You may want to consider those teachers who expressed humility, exuded curiosity, or introduced you to the "infectious joy of discovery."
I was actually homeschooled but the last two years of high school, I primarily received my education through a technology school and concurrent enrollment. Through those opportunities, I was able to have many different teachers and professors educate me. One teacher that taught me a new way of thinking made me look at science in a whole new light. She taught Biology and sometimes she would use fairy tales to explain cell structures. I thought it was interesting because I had always thought of science as very practical and serious. I loved the fact that she was able to incorporate such silly and fun things into such a serious subject. Including analogies only found in fairy tales helped me understand biology better than any textbook could have. She definitely piqued my curiosity in science and I was so excited to learn more in her class the entire year.
ReplyDeleteEmily Crowley
A teacher who taught me a new way of thinking was actually my stepdad, who was my history and government teacher in both middle school and high school. He can be hard-headed about some things, but I find that in the classroom he was always open to admitting when he was wrong for the benefit of his students. He is also very passionate about what he teaches, and that truly matters when you are a teacher, because the students' attitudes reflects their instructor's. In the past when I have had a teacher who clearly does not care about what they are teaching, it was very easy for me to lose interest in the class. He recently received an award for his teaching skills, and his students will agree with the title.
ReplyDeleteLauren George
I really admire the way my dad thinks and comes up with solutions to problems. Often, we will be discussing an issue when he asks me a question that seems totally unrelated to the problem. As we talk more, the random question he asked winds up being a creative solution to our problem. My dad has taught me to look at a problem from many different perspectives and even to look at things on the outside, because they may just wind up being the solution we are looking for. I used to only look at things from my own perspective and would often get stuck in a rut. Learning to look at the world from different angles, learning to see it the way other people do, and looking at things surrounding a problem has helped me grow as a person and understand other people better. I am definitely not the best at this concept yet, but it has helped me find solutions outside of the box for many of my problems.
ReplyDelete-Lindsay DeLaughter
One teacher from high school that taught me how to rethink was my current events teacher. One way he did this was by showing us videos with different viewpoints on current issues such as abortion and gun control. The people on these videos gave facts rather than opinions, and this ultimately caused several students in that class to rethink their personal views on these issues. These videos didn’t cause me to change my views, but they did give me different ideas on how to rethink. Before then, I would usually believe whatever my parents told me was the truth, but now I am able to rethink my views based on facts rather than opinions.
ReplyDeleteI had a teacher in high school who introduced a new way of learning and thinking. It was my biology teacher, my freshman year of high school. Most of the work we did was hands on. We would go in the gym during class and play biology ball. He would pass us the ball and we would have to talk about the subject we had been learning and repeat certain phrase he would want us to remember. He also had a map of a cell on the floor in our class room and we would have to walk across it and stand on each place. You had to name what the part of the cell was and what it does. I had not really learned this way in school until then. Most of my schooling had been mainly a bunch of worksheets.
ReplyDelete-Anna Herd
In my EQ class last semester I had the privilege of being in Dr. Felts class. Felts encouraged the class to use a new way of thinking. He wanted us to change our minds and explain why. Reading this question I can not help but consider him because he did all of the things expressed in the question. He was personable and related to the students and never wanted us to consider him above us. He let us say whatever we thought and encouraged using failure to learn. I have always been afraid of failing yet somehow I walked out of that class knowing that failure is not something to be ashamed of, it is something to learn from and I can not thank Dr. Felts or the honors program at ECU for giving me the opportunity to grow there.
ReplyDelete-Kimber Farris
When I was in second or third grade learning multiplication, I couldn’t figure out the big numbers. I went home to talk to my dad about what I was learning and he taught me a trick to multiplying large numbers – splitting them up. By splitting the numbers up into two smaller math problems, you can save your overall time for the problem. I’ve grown to realize that that small math advice can be translated into a life lesson. If there is a problem, you can break it down and do a few small things while working towards your goal and before you know it, the issue is resolved. That small math lesson taught to me by my dad helped me more than I would have ever realized.
ReplyDeleteIn grade 7 part of our criteria was to introduce budgeting our income and expenses. As a 13 year old me and my fellow classmates were completely uninterested in the logistics of paying off hydro bills, mortgages and so forth. Our teacher understood that this would be boring, so he wanted us to engage our mind in a different way that still taught us how to budget. Everybody was broken into groups that were responsible for making a band. The project was to calculate how much money you would make on tour and then budget your expenses such as planes, hotels, food etc. It made us all think of ways to save money which is what budgeting is all about.
ReplyDeleteOne of my professors that helped me to learn a new way of thinking, was a professor that was not just a teacher. After a semester in her class, I decided that I wanted to do research for her. Through this research, I began to learn the importance of failure and questioning what I know. In the lab, this professor had shown me just how much failure excited her, and why. The reasoning for her excitement actually makes me look forward to the time where I fail now as well. If I can fail, learn from it, and create a better product in the future, then I should be excited to see where failure can take me. Another thing that she showed me, was that I should constantly question what I know. What I know now, is not was I will know in the next 30 seconds, 30 days, or 30 years. If I can be constantly updating what I know with the new information that I am gathering, then I will be able to improve my mind for future research, as well as the for rest of my life.
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